Posted on 01/30/2019 2:05:05 PM PST by a little elbow grease
Remembering Ollie Matson, Bobby Mitchell, Gale Sayers, and so many others.
Just sayin’, we’re missing a lot of great football without the exciting kickoff returns.
What professional sports league would purposefully destroy their most exciting plays? Who would do this? Is this just a function of the wussified society in which we live?
Here in the year 2019, this is what kickoffs look like most of the time: special teams amble onto the field. The kicker kicks the ball out of or through the end zone. The returner turns his head …. observes the ball … the special teams amble off the field. Then …….. COMMERCIALS .
“On rare occasions, the kicker fails to kick the ball beyond the end zone and the returner catches the ball and runs with it, but there always seems to be a penalty for holding or an illegal block in the back. Without the wedge, kickoffs no longer are about power. They’re about speed, and the field is wide open. It’s hard to keep a return game clean when the field is wide open because someone tends to get out of position and that leads to penalties, and penalties make the play frustrating.”
Even when the kick returner catches the ball, his best decision usually is to take a knee in the end zone so his team’s offense can start at its 25.
Kickoffs have become mostly a meaningless and boring ritual. Some people in the NFL want to get rid of the kickoff entirely and replace it with a punt, a less-dangerous play.
The league has done a good job of changing some of the rules on the kickoff in order to eliminate some of the violent collisions and injuries.
But there is nothing the NFL can do to make kickoffs or football in general completely safe ….. and they should not try to.
Injury is inherent to football. It’s a sport with collisions. People hit each other.
So in today’s 2019 ticklish society kickoff returns are controversial.
Imagine starting the games by just lining up at the 25-yard line. That may be next.
Last night I actually watched the complete 1961 NFL Championship Game when Green Bay beat the Giants 37-0.
Luckily, the CBC covered the game and saved the video tape, unlike CBS, who recorded over it, because back then, video tape was expensive.
They also have Super Bowl V, but it’s missing most of the fourth quarter.
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Super Bowl V .... the two teams combined for a Super Bowl record 11 turnovers, with five in the fourth quarter.
The first three quarters they were just warming up.
;-)
... cool. I actually forget that.
I just wanted to see the part where Bob Lilly throws his helmet.
Looks like crap.
I’ll wait for the XFL. Sounds a little more exciting.
After a score, the "receiving" team gets the ball on the 10 or 15 yard line. They get to run one free play with no loss of down. To add some excitement, all rules against pre-snap motion by eligible receivers don't apply for this play. The five offensive linemen and the QB are the only ones who must come to a set before the ball is snapped.
After this play is over, the team keeps the ball wherever the play ends and starts their drive with a 1st down.
The NFL has soiled it’s own bed.
Sucks to be them.
Let’s see you risk your life little elbow grease. Tough talk from a guy sitting safely in his living room.
Ahh, we agree.
https://twitter.com/steel_curtain4/status/827340443692171264?lang=en
“I just wanted to see the part where Bob Lilly throws his helmet.” -——
Jack Lambert throws Cliff Harris
lol
bump
SB41 was *Colts* vs. Bears. Indy went on from that start to win big in the rain.
Know your conferences, a.l.e.g.
ff
It was against the Colts...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGtxZlQwxNQ
ff
Many moons ago, if the kicking team recovered the kick in the end zone it was a touch down for them! Another rule that was changed and I really don’t know when it did, but used to a offensive linemen or anyother of your own players could not keep pushing the running back forward, you would get a penalty for it!
During that period Devin Hester was the entirety of the Bears offense.
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Keep thinkin', I can smell the wood burning.
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Yes, I don't know when they allowed offensive players to push the pile the way they do today.
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